25. And Then There Were Fewer
Season: 9
Episode: 1
Original Air Date: September 26th, 2010 It's a good old fashioned murder mystery as the citizens of Quahog are invited to actor James Woods' mansion for unknown reasons, only for them to begin getting murdered one by one. In any real murder mystery on television or in movies, there are plot twists and turns galore, and it's no different here. You think someone is the killer, and then you think someone else is the killer, but only for a moment, because then you think someone else is the killer. It's actually well-written, especially for taking place on a silly cartoon show. There is no need for any sort of side plot here, as the mystery carries things strongly. We even got a couple of show regulars killed off, which was surprising. No, they weren't Griffin family members or anything, but they were still people you saw on the show all the time, and here we are, four years later, with the characters not having returned, so it was a permanent deal. The writers deserve credit for that. If we got to see some bigger names killed off, to get people talking, the episode would probably be more universally enjoyed. It's the high risk, high reward way of looking at things, but it's the kind of thing that gets people talking, which leads to memorable episodes years down the line.